President Barack Obama arrived in Charlotte around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday for the Democratic National Convention.

Obama greeted people after he landed. His motorcade departed from the airport just before 3:15 p.m. Interstate 485 outer loop and Johnston Road in the Ballantyne area were closed for Obama's motorcade.

President Barack Obama inherited a wreck of an economy, "put a floor under the crash" and laid the foundation for millions of good new jobs, former President Bill Clinton declared Wednesday night in a Democratic National Convention appeal aimed at millions of hard-pressed Americans yet to decide how to vote.

Conceding that many struggling in a slow-recovery economy don't yet feel the change, Clinton said in a prime-time speech that circumstances are improving "and if you'll renew the president's contract, you will feel it."

To the cheers of thousands of Democrats packed into their convention hall, he said of Obama, "I want to nominate a man who is cool on the outside but who burns for America on the inside."